As Alex Verdugo sat in his new home on Thursday, the Yankees outfielder couldn’t help but comment on his bare cheeks.
Verdugo, in compliance with the Yankees’ grooming policy, shaved shortly after being acquired from the Red Sox during the Winter Meetings. The once-bearded 27-year-old noted that his mom is a huge fan of the makeover, as she “thinks I look like her little boy again.”
Verdugo, meanwhile, misses the warmth his facial hair used to provide. But his skin has started to adjust to the daily glide of a razor, and he appreciates the sheared look – and what it represents.
“I haven’t been clean-shaven since high school,” Verdugo quipped during an introductory Zoom session. But, he added, “I actually really like it. It feels like a fresh start, and I feel like a kid again.”
Indeed, this is a fresh start, something Verdugo mentioned multiple times. Not only for his face, but for his career after his time in Boston ended on a sour note.
As part of the trade that sent Mookie Betts to Los Angeles, Verdugo joined the Red Sox with sky-high expectations in 2020. Once a top prospect, he hit .308 over the pandemic-shortened season and followed up with a .289/.351/.426 slash line, 13 homers, 63 RBI and a 107 OPS+ in 2021.
He then set career-highs with 39 doubles and 74 RBI in 2022, but his 102 OPS+ deemed him barely above league-average at the plate. The 2023 season pegged him as exactly league-average with a 100 OPS+.
While the last-place Red Sox needed more out of Verdugo’s bat last year, his 2023 issues went beyond lackluster lumber.
Boston skipper Alex Cora benched Verdugo on two separate occasions, once for failing to hustle and once for arriving late to the ballpark, as MassLive’s Chris Cotillo noted. Timeliness had been an issue for Verdugo in the past, as former Dodgers teammate Rich Hill once scolded him for arriving late as well.
After dealing for Verdugo, Brian Cashman downplayed any concerns over the player’s makeup. He said that the Yankees performed a “deep dive” on Verdugo, who, while in the Dodgers’ system in 2015, was also connected to an incident in Arizona in which police investigated the alleged sexual assault of a minor by another player. Verdugo, citing a “police investigation” and a “team thing,” said he was cleared of wrongdoing after joining the Red Sox. Charges were not filed.
Despite last year’s benchings, Cashman concluded that Verdugo is a “gamer,” someone who can “make us better.”
Verdugo, meanwhile, said that Cora’s reprimands toughened him up.
“I had several players, kind of veteran figures, reach out to me and just really helped me through some stuff, encouraging me,” Verdugo said. “Letting me know, like, ‘Hey, you’ve just got to do certain things that make it all kind of run smoothly.’ For me, those bumps in the road, those things like that, I’m not too sure 100% what it was. It could also be you’re struggling on a baseball team. There’s a lot of expectations, and when you’re not really meeting them, you start bumping heads a little bit.”
Verdugo, unprompted, then noted Aaron Boone’s reputation for always having his players’ backs. He referenced the Yankees manager’s famous “Savages In The Box” rant and spoke fondly of Boone’s fire and “fight for the guys.”
“I think just instead of airing people out, have their backs,” Verdugo continued, without ever mentioning Cora. “I’m really excited for this fresh start and just to kind of get with the guys and really just change the narrative. Go out there, play hard, work hard and just have fun. That’s the biggest thing.”
Boone, like Cashman, brushed the benchings aside at the Winter Meetings, stating that he didn’t dive into the subject with Cora, a close friend.
On Thursday, Boone spoke at a holiday food and toy drive hosted by the NYPD’s 44th precinct. There, he noted that Verdugo is “excited about the opportunity” to wear pinstripes.
“I think he can really hit, and I think he can really defend, especially in the corners,” Boone said of an outfielder expected to man left. “I think there’s more in there. I don’t necessarily think he’s reached his potential.”
When told of that remark, Verdugo considered it a compliment. But he also knows it means that he hasn’t lived up to the hype.
That’s another thing he wants to change in New York.
“I want to tap into it,” Verdugo said. “I want it to be now. I want to reach that potential. For me, the older I get, the more stability I get. I’m starting to train better. I’m starting to have the resources in the offseason. Everything that I kind of need to really take the next step. For me, it’s nice to hear that. But it’s also, now we’ve got to figure out the right steps to make it happen, make that projection where everybody says there’s more in the tank. Let’s get it.”
If Verdugo can accomplish that, he and the Yankees will prosper.
Even if Verdugo maintains just a league-average bat, that would be an improvement over what the Bombers had in left field last season. But if he can truly shine in his final campaign before hitting the open market, he’ll set himself up for a nice payday while providing a boost for a Yankees offense that flailed at the plate last year.
“There’s a lot of carrots out there,” Boone said, noting Verdugo’s impending free agency and the motivation that a change of scenery can provide. “We just want to get him settled, get him comfortable.”
Comfort will be key for Verdugo, who disclosed that being traded from the Red Sox initially made him “mad.”
“I was hot,” Verdugo admitted. “I was just like, ‘Man, they really sent me to the rivals? The Yankees?’”
However, his mindset changed about a day later when he started to think about his final year in Boston and how things went down. As the likes of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole, Anthony Rizzo and Juan Soto – another new addition – started connecting with him, Verdugo realized that he should be excited about what lies ahead.
He’s been trying to look like a Yankee ever since, and he’s eager to embrace his new surroundings.
“These guys started all reaching out and welcoming me to the team,” Verdugo said. “It just then got me excited. I shaved right away just so I could feel like I’m in it. I work out every day in a Yankees hat – I got it right here – just to kind of see what it looks [like] on me, how it feels.
“I want to go to this organization and I just want to work hard and I want to prove maybe a lot of these ‘he said, she said’ things wrong. I want to just show them we’re all people, we’re all humans, and yeah we make mistakes. But how do we learn from it? How do we bounce back from it and how much stronger do we get from that? I’m excited for this new, fresh start.”
